Stone Bridges

Ema had never been without her sister before. On the one hand, it irritated her to know how dependent she'd been on the older woman, but on the other it was also scary. Like she'd been walking along and all of a sudden someone had replaced the road with a tightrope.

She blinked down at her notebook and realised that she had been reading the same sentence over and over for the last five minutes. Trying to read in her bedroom had been an exercise in futility; the silence only reminded her of Ame's absence. It seemed working in the main room was just as useless.

Heaving a sigh, Ema pushed the book away and buried her face in her arms. Wataru looked up from his own homework at the sound and made a concerned sound. "Ema-chan? Are you okay?"

"Mm," she hummed, mustering up a small smile for him, "I'm fine. I was just thinking about something."

Wataru cocked his head thoughtfully. "Is it about Ame-chan?"

"Yeah," Ema replied hesitantly, hyperaware of just how clueless Wataru was about what had really happened. "I just miss her."

Her eyes flickered to the side as she heard footsteps that soon revealed themselves to be Kaname tapping away at his phone. He looked up at her and offered a quick, almost distracted smile before returning his focus to the little screen. Ema watched him amble towards the couch and flop down on it, snickering at whatever had been sent to him. She wondered who he was texting to be in such a good mood. It was almost irritating to see him laughing while she was marinating in her own misery, but she couldn't just insist on knowing.

Wataru though, had no such beliefs. "Who're you talking to?" The little boy chirped, abandoning his worksheets in favour of climbing on Kaname's lap and reaching for his phone.

The older brother held the phone far out of reach and planted a large hand on Wataru's head to hold him back. "None of your business," he replied loftily.

"No, I wanna know!" Wataru whined, trying to fight past the hand holding him back. "Is it a girl? Oh, is it a girlfriend?!"

"Who has a girlfriend?" Hikaru walked into the room, eying the three of them with wicked interest. "Surely it isn't our littlest brother? I thought you were waiting to grow up for Ema-chan."

"H-Hikaru-san!" Ema squeaked. Her heart flipped uncomfortably, a hard thud-thud that made her feel like she couldn't speak normally. Ever since their fight, Ema hadn't been able to see these little statements in the same light. Whereas before she could laugh them off or turn a blind eye in the hopes that whatever weird, compulsively heterosexual feelings they had all developed for her would eventually disappear, now she couldn't stop viewing them as the flashing warning signs Ame must have seen.

Wataru scowled and stuck his tongue out at Hikaru. "It's not me, you meanie! It's Kaname-nii!"

"Kaname?" Hikaru blinked and turned to look at the blonde. Kaname arched an eyebrow in response just as his phone buzzed three times in rapid succession. Hikaru's grin grew wider. "Well, it looks like someone's popular at work."

Kaname laughed. "That's so uncharacteristically nice of you Hikaru, but it's not a work call," he replied. As he did his grip on Wataru faltered and the boy immediately scrambled upwards and yanked the phone towards him. "Wataru, careful!"

"It's Ame-chan!"

It was like a bucket of cold water over Ema's head. "Ame? She...she's responding to you?" The girl thought of the text she'd received from her sister, the stilted wording and generic declarations of it's not you, it's me and I just need some time to myself.

Kaname winced and then pinched his nose. "Yes. Yes and no. I just let her know what's going on. She might not be here but she still worries about you."

"Well she wouldn't have to worry about me if she was here!" Ema snapped, slamming her hand down on the table and sending the room into silence. She pressed her lips together and got to her feet so fast she jammed her shin against the table's edge. "I'm going out."

Hikaru took a step forward. "Should I-?"

"I don't want company."

The front door clicked shut behind her. Ema leaned against the wall and bit her bottom lip to hold back the buildup of tears.

"Someone looks miserable."

She looked up and met Fuuto's light brown eyes. The sunset turned them honey-coloured. He watched her with an unusually serious gaze and both of his hands stuffed in the pockets of his dark green jacket.

He came closer, seemingly in no rush. "Thinking about our resident runaway?"

Ema sniffled and wiped her eyes. "Was it that obvious?"

"It's the only reason I can think of for why I'd see my cute big sister crying outside," he stopped in front of her. Ema blinked up at him, disconcerted when he lifted a hand to her cheek to smooth the little wrinkles and tears away. "Why are you outside, big sister?"

She flinched and looked down at the ground. "I was thinking about visiting Azusa-nii in the hospital. I just...I didn't want to be in there anymore. At least not now. I can't stop remembering the fight we had."

Fuuto frowned and Ema realised that he hadn't been there to witness it and his schedule meant that he probably hadn't had time to ask anyone for details. "I'm sure Azusa-nii would like having you at the hospital. I would. You could dress up as a nurse for me~."

"Uh huh," Ema smiled awkwardly. The spot on her neck where he'd bitten her inside the haunted house burned even though the bruise had mostly faded away.

"Oi, what are you doing!?" They both jumped and turned to see Yuusuke storming up the driveway, his artificially red mane making him appear like some angry wild cat. "Leave Ema-chan alone, Fuuto. She's been through enough without you making her uncomfortable!"

The boy chuckled and held his arms up dramatically. "Aw, I'm just having fun. Besides, if I was making Ema-chan uncomfortable, she could always push me away couldn't she? Ame-chan had no problems doing that after all."

"Stop that! Ema-chan is soft!"

"That's why you like her, isn't it? It's cute how she never fights back, isn't it?"

"Shut up!" Yuusuke took a step forward, fist raised when a whimper stopped him in his tracks. The tears Ema had been trying to hold back were streaming down her cheeks. She pressed her hands over her mouth but it wasn't enough to hold back the tiny, pained whimpers.

Ame had been right. Gasping, Ema turned and ran.

oOo

The early afternoon sun painted the cheery yellow wallpaper of the café a bright gold. Sunbeams alighted on the rims of polished milkshake classes and turned the ice cream display a delicious pastel shade. Summer was starting and the little shop was populated by teenagers laughing over cakes and frosty glasses. A few office workers sat in booths, murmuring to themselves and checking their watches. Every time the brass bell hanging atop the door jingled a service worker in pink overalls called out a jaunty "welcome!"

Ame stood in the door for a moment. She pulled off her sunglasses and searched the room for her father. The text he'd sent had specified a time but Ame had been nervous and had turned up thirty minutes early out of sheer nerves.

After deciding that she was far too early and he clearly hadn't arrived yet, Ame commandeered a little two-person table near the middle of the cafe. Her fingers twitched as she almost reached for her compact mirror to check her lipstick, then she clenched her hands into a fist and instead began to tap out a quiet staccato rhythm with her fingernails on the tabletop.

As she waited, a woman caught her eye. She had hair that went just past her shoulders in the same shade as her own and curled into a fashionable bob. The woman was wearing a trendy off the shoulder dress that moulded against every curve of her body and ordering a complicated coffee drink that seemed to be mostly sugar topped with more whipped cream than was probably allowed.

The cashier called out the order, "A medium gingersnap mocha frappe with extra whip cream for Amamiya!" And Ame jerked at the familiar sounding name. Was that...? She flashed back to the security guard outside Ukyo's office that had refused to let her in. Was this the woman he'd mistaken her for? How many people had the name Amamiya anyway?

Ame watched her leave, wondering what the story there. Then she sighed and checked the time on her phone. Fifteen more minutes. She wondered if she should order something just so that the server would stop shooting her expectant looks from across the room. It was getting really awkward.

The door jingled and when she looked Ame nearly jumped out of her seat. Ema stared back at her with an expression Ame wasn't sure she'd ever seen before. There was something determined in Ema's bright eyes and it made Ame stay seated as her sister walked over and sat down in the other chair.

Neither of them spoke for a moment. Apparently even the server could sense the tension and had moved on to bothering some other table. Finally Ema pressed her palms to the table and coughed. "You look well."

Ame nodded. "So do you. You...didn't bring Juli?"

"I figured this should be between us," Ema replied, "before dad gets here."

"Oh." Ame waited for her to continue but Ema seemed to be stuck on what to say next. "Ema, look, I'm sorry for what I said-"

"No, I'm sorry for getting angry-"

"You deserved to get angry, I was being a bitch-"

"You were trying to look after me-"

"But I should have realised that you're old enough to look after yourself-"

"That doesn't mean I wanted you to leave!" Ema snapped. Several people glanced over their table and she lowered her voice again. "I never wanted you to leave. I said something awful while I was angry and emotional, but you have to know that I didn't mean it. I've missed you."

Ame sniffed. "I've missed you too."

"Louis-nii talked to me while you were gone," Ema pressed her palms together, linking her fingers together. "He mentioned something about co-dependency."

"Funny, Sora brought that up too," Ame chuckled softly, staring at her hand starfished in the center of the table. "We're really dysfunctional huh? Even without the pseudo-incest thing, we weren't the best to each other."

Two hands grabbed hers and Ema fixed her older sister with that a firm gaze. "At least we tried to be good for each other. We can try again, differently this time. I can start being more independent and standing up for myself-"

"-and I can find new interests outside of you," Ame finished. Her smile grew more hopeful. "You really forgive me?"

Ema's responding grin was like the sun peeking out. "You're my sister. Of course I forgive you."

They smiled at each other some more until Ame nodded and leaned back. "I feel like we should order something before we get thrown out for taking up space."

Outside the café Rintaro watched his daughters with a wistful smile. The pictures in his pocket felt like heavy stones but at the same time he couldn't wait to hand them over, to share the secret he hadn't meant to hide for so long with them. He looked up into the bright blue sky and thought of his dear friends. Wherever they were, he hoped they were looking down on their beautiful daughters and that they were proud.

There was supposed to be more but I typed most of this at work and I'm technically not supposed to be on my phone. However I know my boss isn't gonna fire me because I'm the only person willing to deal with the giant iguana.